Henri Nouwen as a Guide to the Synod

When I returned to New York City last October after spending a week studying up close the first session of the Synod on Synodality, all I remember was how overwhelmed I felt. I had gone to Rome as part of a class on synodality at Fordham, a unique effort among all Catholic universities in the United States. During that week, a dozen other students and faculty and I were privileged to witness and even participate in spiritual moments and conversations with many synod delegates and others working on the peripheries of the month-long meeting at the Vatican to promote a new style of being church. 

I met amazing people and saw moments of openness, love, and even frustration. Yet, when I got back, I didn’t know how to explain these interactions to my peers. I saw polarizing news headlines about the synod, some with fearful language and others with ambitious promises, and I struggled to understand my experiences of the synod alongside the general American media portrayal of it. 

At the time, I would resort to explaining the Synod on Synodality on the account of its logistics, formalities, and documents rather than its spiritual essence. 

I would tell my friends, family, and classmates that the Synod on Synodality is an ongoing process, started in 2021 and set to conclude with this month’s second month-long session. But it is not an event as much as a process, that seeks to discern how the Church can become more synodal—which The Synthesis Report from the 2023 assembly describes as “Christians walking in communion with Christ toward the Kingdom along with the whole of humanity.” The Synod on Synodality seeks to understand and discern the way that all Christians journey together with Christ in their common Baptism, despite their differences and tensions. 

I would then explain the method that the Church is using to discern this. The synodal process has several phases, starting at a parish level and eventually culminating in two general assemblies, the one I attended in October 2023 and another in October 2024. At the Vatican, delegates (bishops, priests, and lay people appointed from each continent) discuss and pray about ideas and concerns brought up in previous listening sessions in the earlier phases. 

All useful information, to be sure. But, I hadn’t found the language to understand and explain the spiritual nature of the synod. 

A few months later, I discovered Spiritual Formation by Henri Nouwen in the “Comparative Mysticism” theology course at Fordham. As I read this book, I realized how relevant the Spiritual Movements Nouwen described were to my experiences and observations with the ongoing synod. Nouwen quickly became the spiritual guide I needed to process and pray with the synod. I found myself reading more of his writings as I sought to continue understanding synodality in the Catholic Church. 

Now, nearly a year after my first experiences of the Synodal Church in Rome, I am continuing to read Nouwen’s work to complement my prayers as I prepare to witness the Second General Assembly of the Synod on Synodality in Rome during my semester studying abroad here. 

I argue that the Spiritual Movements Nouwen identifies—specifically “From Exclusion to Inclusion,” “From Fear to Love,” and “From Resentment to Gratitude”—provide guidance for Catholics like myself seeking to understand the synod and practice synodality. 

Who was Henri Nouwen, and Why is He Relevant to the Synod?

Because the Synod on Synodality is an inherently spiritual process, it requires spiritual guidance from those that came before us.

Henri Nouwen was a priest, mystic, and writer popular during the late twentieth century. He is uniquely positioned to guide us through the synodal process with his vast life experiences that informed his own writings. Nouwen came of age in Holland when the Catholic and Protestant churches were first interacting after years of division. This engagement in the transformation of Dutch Catholic theology and tradition opened the door for him to participate in a planning committee for Vatican II. 

Nouwen’s involvement in both of these periods of change and renewal, for both the Church in Holland and the global Church, positions him to accompany us through the present synod and the revitalizations it may inspire. Nouwen’s experience with Vatican II is especially relevant because the Synod on Synodality is seen as Pope Francis’s reception of the council. 

Nouwen’s Spiritual Movements and the Synod on Synodality

From Exclusion to Inclusion

The first of Nouwen’s Spiritual Movements that stuck out to me was the shift “From Exclusion to Inclusion.” This involves Nouwen’s ideas of  “radical hospitality” and “community,” and invites synod participants to embrace all baptized Catholics at the table, with all of their similarities and differences.

This is the first synod that has included lay-people, women, and Fraternal Delegates (participants from other Christian Churches) at the table, so radical hospitality—openness to the other and to God—is key in how synod members encounter each other and serve their community. 

Alongside radical hospitality, synod participants must create community—“a place of forgiveness and celebration, where we are more similar than different.” Nouwen’s idea of community—a place of reconciliation and togetherness inspires—synod participants to see each other in their common identity in Christ rather than in their differences. This supports the previously mentioned Synthesis Report’s definition of synodality as journeying with all baptized Catholics and all of humanity.

Together, radical hospitality and community make up the movement “From Exclusion to Inclusion” and inspire synod participants to meet each other with the knowledge of their likeness in baptism and celebration for their unity in Christ rather than focusing on any dividing differences. This Spiritual Movement is a crucial foundation for the synodal process because it sets up the synod to include voices and truly honor all baptized Catholics and Fraternal Delegates.

From Resentment to Gratitude

Nouwen’s shift “From Resentment to Gratitude” calls synod participants to appreciate each other’s work in the synod and in the Church without the frustration that people will share their different gifts in unequal ways. Nouwen states that, “Resentment is the curse of the faithful, the virtuous, the obedient, and the hardworking,” and it involves a frustration with the unequal distribution of work in the Church. I have heard many synod proponents complain that others are not as active in the synodal process as they are. The difficult imbalance of work can lead them to exclude the perspectives of less active Catholics.

However, Nouwen recommends that we move towards gratitude, or thanksgiving for God’s work and presence in all people’s different gifts to and perspectives of the Church. The synodal process involves valuing each Catholic’s contributions, however big or small, and meeting each other with gratitude regardless of what each other’s gifts are. Nouwen argues that “Resentment blocks action; gratitude lets us move forward to new possibilities.” Instead, gratitude promotes “the true nature and function of what we call church”—synodality that embraces all baptized Catholics. 

From Fear to Love

It’s no secret that the present synod has created tensions and controversy among the faithful and even faced harsh criticism. The media has been quick to pick up on this and write alarmist headlines to get clicks, leaving American Catholics to find their own way among these polarizing narratives.

However, Nouwen’s Spiritual Movement “From Fear to Love” pushes synod participants and observers to embrace it and its uncertainties instead of denouncing it. Nouwen’s writings guide us away from the “house of fear,” in which people are held captive by fear of what could hurt them or their Church, and towards the “house of love,” in which God dwells with peace and perfect love. 

In the house of fear, people act out of apprehension for what others think of them instead of recognizing their perfect identity in Jesus Christ. Nouwen advises people to practice personal prayer to help them follow the invitation of Christ to “not be afraid” and enter the “house of love.” When synod participants enter the house of love and leave the house of fear, they are able to see each others’ perspectives without undue fear for what these ideas mean for them. 

This allows for a gracious interpretation of the attacks on the Synod on Synodality as the authors’ fear for what it means for the faith they care deeply about instead of seeing these words as attempts to destroy the Church. Similarly, those that decry the Synod on Synodality can pray to embrace it with love instead of fear so that they can meet its proponents with open hearts. 

With the movement “From Fear to Love,” both sides of this tension can prayerfully engage with each other during the synodal process in a way that honors their experiences and their common identity in Christ. 

Conclusion

When swept up in these polarizing narratives about the synod, we easily lose the meaning of synodality and stop truly journeying together. I have experienced this myself, and reduced the synod to its procedures and documents. Thus, turning to spiritual guides such as Henri Nouwen helps us reground ourselves as we enter the second General Assembly of the Synod on Synodality. Each of the above Spiritual Movements offers us a way to embrace the synod and all Catholics in a truly synodal way—a way that lets us journey together with love and gratitude for all that we encounter along the way.